Meta posts solid Q1 results following March redundancies
Meta has reported its Q1 results for 2023, posting US$28.65 billion (A$43.35) in revenue for the three months to March 31, up 3% YoY.
While less than the 7% YoY growth posted in Q1 2022, the results marked a turnaround from the Facebook parent company’s revenue slump in each of the last three quarters of 2022. However, net income remained in decline, at US$5.71 billion (A$8.64), down 25% YoY.
Meta and other big tech struggled in 2022
Facebook’s usership saw continued growth after hitting 2 billion users in Q4 2022, with this latest quarter recording 2.04 billion daily active users, up 4% YoY.
Ad impressions across Meta’s ‘Family of Apps’ were up 26% YoY, while the average price per ad decreased by 17% YoY.
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The bulk of revenue was again attributed to Meta’s advertising operations, reporting a $28.10 billion (A$42.55 billion) revenue in Q1.
Meta’s Reality Labs, which produces the VR and AR responsible for manifesting the metaverse, posted US$339 million (A$513.25 million) in revenue, continuing on a downward streak with a further US$3.99 billion (A$6.05 billion) loss.
The results come a month after the company announced another round of job cuts, with Meta looking to reduce its headcount by a further 10,000, after dismissing 11,000 workers globally in November due to “overinvestment”.
In the Q1 report, Meta put its headcount at 77,114, a decrease of 1% YoY, with employees impacted by the November cuts excluded from the figure. However, the company noted that those included in the latest round of layoffs were still included in the official headcount as of March 31.
Of the results, Meta founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg said: “We had a good quarter and our community continues to grow.”
“Our AI work is driving good results across our apps and business. We’re also becoming more efficient so we can build better products faster and put ourselves in a stronger position to deliver our long term vision.”
Will Easton, managing director Meta Australia and New Zealand added: “Like Meta’s broader business, user engagement in Australia is at an all time high, driven by our investments in AI recommendations and ranking systems.
“As we invest in new ad tech, we’re also hearing feedback from Australian advertisers that ad performance and return on advertising spend continues to grow, delivering meaningful returns for their businesses.”
Earlier this month Meta’s global business director Naomi Shepherd and agency director for Australia & New Zealand Carolyn Bollaci told the Mumbrellacast that cheaper ads, better ROI and AI were the focus for the company, but that the metaverse was still the ‘long-term play’.
As of 27 April, Meta trades at US$209.40 (A$317.02) with US$537.19 billion (A$813.27 billion) market capitalisation.
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